Sound Design Psychoacoustics and Sound Perception 3

Question 1

What is a 'phantom image' in stereo audio?

Accepted Answer

A perceived sound source localized between two speakers due to matched level and time cues

Answer

An unwanted artifact caused by digital clipping or aliasing

Answer

A reverb effect that simulates a large acoustic space

Answer

Ghost frequencies produced by harmonic distortion

Question 2

Auditory stream segregation describes the brain's ability to:

Accepted Answer

Organize simultaneous sounds into distinct perceptual streams or sound objects

Answer

Separate the left and right channels of a stereo bus

Answer

Filter frequencies above the threshold of human hearing

Answer

Process audio into discrete frequency bands in a signal processor

Question 3

How much of a decibel (dB) increase is generally required to perceive a sound as twice as loud?

Accepted Answer

10 dB

Answer

3 dB

Answer

6 dB

Answer

20 dB

Question 4

What is 'spectral masking' (frequency masking)?

Accepted Answer

A louder sound at a nearby frequency preventing a quieter sound from being heard

Answer

Applying a frequency filter to remove unwanted tonal content from a recording

Answer

Using EQ to mask tonal imbalances introduced by poor recording conditions

Answer

The absorption of specific frequency ranges by acoustic treatment panels

Question 5

How is the Precedence Effect most directly applied in reverb design?

Accepted Answer

Setting pre-delay to preserve source localization and intelligibility before reverb onset

Answer

Setting the attack time on a compressor inserted on a reverb return

Answer

Applying a high-pass filter on all reverb sends to reduce muddiness

Answer

Choosing the sample rate for a convolution reverb impulse response

Question 6

What does 'temporal masking' describe?

Accepted Answer

The masking of a sound by another sound occurring just before or after it in time

Answer

Time-based effects such as delay and echo applied during post-production

Answer

The minimum duration a sound must have to be perceivable by the human ear

Answer

Audio-to-video sync issues arising in film post-production

Question 7

In spatial audio design, what does 'externalization' refer to?

Accepted Answer

The perception that a sound originates from outside the listener's head rather than inside it

Answer

Recording sounds in outdoor field environments rather than a studio

Answer

Routing audio signals to external loudspeakers from a headphone amplifier

Answer

Exporting or bouncing a finished audio mix from a DAW to a file